Birth of a Beauty Korean Drama Review

Only Skin Deep

Birth of a Beauty is your classic mindless rom-com Korean drama with exaggerated plot and characters. From its ridiculous premise of whole body transformation achieved through plastic surgery, I already knew that it’s not meant to be taken too seriously. So naturally, I didn’t plan on judging Birth of a Beauty with a high bar as I expect it to have a mediocre but passable storyline. I simply wanted to enjoy the comic relief and aww-inducing moments from the cute relationship between the lead characters without much distraction. Unfortunately, I was constantly reminded of how incredibly illogical the storyline and character are as I make my way through the drama. Often, I found myself having difficulties justifying why a character would behave in a particular way. Many more times, I was simply laughing out loud at how absurd the plot is. The worst character awards go to supporting roles Lee Kang Joon (Jung Gyu Woon) and Gyo Chae Yeon (Wang Ji Hye), whose motivations and actions throughout the entire drama were mind-boggling and inconsistent. That’s not to say that the actors did a bad acting job, just that they were assigned poorly written roles. If it weren’t for the lead actors’ charismatic acting and adorable couple chemistry between Sara (Han Ye Seul) and Han Tae Hee (Joo Sang Wook), I would have given up on this “skin-deep beauty” long ago.

I was constantly reminded of how incredibly illogical the storyline and character are.

Episodes 1-3 Review

Birth of a Beauty kicks off with one of the most cliche plot devices in Korean drama — amnesia, or so it seems. Our heroine Sara, known as Sa Geum Ran before her total transformation, is confused about her identity and can’t remember who she is. But even worse than amnesia, she apparently suffers from “anesthesia induced temporary loss of memory” from the plastic surgery as explained by her surgeon and main hero Han Tae Hee. That’s a pretty far stretch, but I patiently watch on.

I find out soon enough that Geum Ran is a miserable housewife who is mistreated by her husband’s family. She discovers that her husband Lee Kang Joon has been cheating on her with coworker Gyo Chae Yeon for a long time. Heartbroken, she gets into a car accident and is believed to have committed suicide. But she miraculously survives and her fate gets turned around after a full body transformation planned and executed by Tae Hee. She vows to repay her husband’s betrayal.

Apart from the rather nonsensical opening, I was quickly pacified with over-the-top yet hilarious situations, comical dialogues, and charming dynamics between Sara and Tae Hee. I was even pleasantly surprised with the reveal of Tae Hee’s real identity — a nice little twist I did not anticipate amidst the predictable revenge storyline.

Episodes 4-6 Review

Episode four starts off strong with several major plot lines unfolding at the same time: Tae Hee’s connection to Winner Group and his parents’ death conspiracy, Sara gradually uncovering the truth and culprit behind her “death”, and Chae Yeon’s ever growing ambitions.

Meanwhile, character development also progresses and it becomes ever more clear that Kang Joon and Chae Yeon are not just unfaithful cheaters but are motivated in advancing their individual secret agendas. As a result, Tae Hee and Sara dial up their retaliation plan from simply breaking Kang Joon and Chae Yeon apart to ruining their work and family life while collecting evidences of their misdeeds.

Despite a strong set up in episode four, I was quickly let down by the events that followed. For one, Kang Joon gets too easily tempted by Sara even though she’s bipolar towards him on several occasions. One moment she’s angrily yelling at him to leave and the next she’s sweetly asking for a date over text. Sara even goes as far as telling Kang Joon directly that she plans on ruining his new marriage with Chae Yeon — but apparently not a big concern to him. At the same time, Tae Hee comes to the realization that he likes Sara even though he supposedly loved Chae Yeon for all his life. I understand Tae Hee’s pity and compassion towards Sara, but his feelings come rather too soon to feel believable.

Episodes 7-9 Review

The irrational storyline continues as Sara and Tae Hee’s revenge scheme heat up. They begin to mess with Kang Joon mentally. In frustration, Kang Joon sends Sara’s mother to a mental hospital by force assuming that it was her doing. Since when did it become so easy to lock normal people away in a mental hospital without any testing?

Oh but it gets better! In an attempt to collect evidence of Kang Joon’s crimes, Tae Hee and Sara knock him out and kidnap him. Then Sara successfully tricks Kang Joon into believing that she’s her old self Geum Ran with the help of nothing but layers of thick clothing, a pre-recorded voice tape, and some eerie mist in the darkness. It took every ounce of me not to question how she managed to pull it off.

More illogical scenes soon follow. Chae Yeon overhears that Sara is eagerly looking for Geum Ran’s mother and miraculously deduces that they must be the same person through plastic surgery. That’s a huge conclusion to jump to considering that Chae Yeon thought Geum Ran is dead. Surely Chae Yeon is not clairvoyant! At this point, I try to divert my attention to Sara and Tae Hee’s relationship development and convince myself to just focus on the good. Things heat up between them as they adorably test each other’s feelings by showing off their sex appeal. A few tender moments of almost-kissing scenes later, Tae Hee works up the courage to confess his feelings for Sara and the drama finally puts a smile on my face.

Episodes 10-14 Review

The next few episodes of Birth of a Beauty grew increasingly unbearable as the writers continue to struggle in creating meaningful and coherent plot lines. Filler scenes and repeat flashbacks are a dime a dozen. In five hours worth of time, the drama only manages to progress a few things. First, Kang Joon finds out that Sara and Tae Hee have been working together to approach him on purpose and begins to investigate the connection between them. After collecting a few pieces of evidence and getting tipped off by Chae Yeon, he finally confirms that Sara is Geum Ran. Meanwhile, Chae Yeon finds out Tae Hee’s real identity and shamelessly throws herself at him even though she decisively turned down his feelings earlier. Of course, it’s too little too late now.

On the other hand, our love birds temporarily put their revenge plan on hold and keep themselves busy with movie dates, bread baking, and getting engaged. This just means more adorable scenes of great couple chemistry between them for my enjoyment.

Yet the table turns quickly. While Sara and Tae Hee are basking in happiness, Chae Yeon and Kang Joon conspire to break them up. Case in point, when Kang Joon overhears Sara accepting Tae Hee’s proposal, his inner voice says: “Sa Geum Ran, my wife, dares to marry someone else?” Kang Joon has wanted Geum Ran out of his life for a long time, so why would he care that she marries someone else? The only answer is: for no good reason except that the villains of the drama are just pure evil. Personally, I see these types of characters as a cop-out in creating conflict for the sake of prolonging the story without real substance. Afraid to find out how many more ridiculous scenarios will be needed to fill the remaining seven episodes, I decided it was time to leave this “beauty” for good.